Defending champions Nigeria’s Golden Eaglets tonight survived a late rally by Niger to scrape their first win at the WAFU B U17 AFCON qualifying tournament in Ghana.
The 1-0 win lifted the Eaglets to second place in Group B on four points from two matches after Burkina Faso defeated Togo 2-0 in the earlier game of the day.
On Wednesday, they will play a final group game against already eliminated Togo.
Golden Eaglets were reduced to 10 men on the hour after central defender Okorie Chibuike was sent off for a professional foul.
However, the Nigerian youngsters kept their nerves to protect a first-half lead till the end.
Nigeria took the game to their opponents, who preferred to sit back in their own half of the pitch and hit the Golden Eaglets on the counter.
The opening goal was scored by striker Rapha Adams, who poked home a rebound after Niger defence appeared to have cleared the danger.
Niger were denied the equaliser two minutes from the break by the post.
The Junior Mena also hit the crossbar after just seven minutes of action.
Nigeria’s central defender Boluwatife Ekishola was forced out of the game by injury after just 11 minutes.
The Golden Eaglets created the better chances and would have been a lot happier if they had put away more of these openings.
In the 50th minute, Adams shot at goal, but it missed target not by much as the Golden Eaglets continued to look for more goals.
John Ogwuche and Daniel Arierhi were introduced to the fray in place of Oreoluwa Agbenla and Abdulmuiz Oladimeji.
On the hour, Chibuike was sent off after he fouled a Niger player on his way to goal.
The resulting free kick by Niger was pushed away for a corner by goalkeeper Chinedu Dominic.
Niger chased for a leveler to make this an exciting contest.
The 10-man Golden Eaglets weathered the storm to get their campaign back on track after a goalless draw with Burkina Faso on opening day action.
